Process of making expanded articles.



T. W. VARLEY.

PROCESS 01'- MAKING EXPANDED ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, 1915.

Patented Dec. 12,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- rnonas. w. vatnr,

i OF G application died February 2t, 1915. Serialit'o.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, Tnonas W. Vannnr,..

a citizen of the United States ot erica, and resident of the borough ofMattan, city, county, and State of New' lork, have invented a Processot'llda' 1mg Articles, of which the tollowing fication.

is a speci- My invention relates. to a process'ot making expandedarticles suchas tan guards and has particular application in connectionwith the mag ot tan tor electric tans, although. the gum produ by thepractice at the process may as well be used tor the protection ot otherobjects than tans, such as any rotating wheel or like object. Inconnection with the accompanying drawings ll shall describe one way otpractising my process,'the teatures .thereot being more particularlypointed out in the claims. in the drags, Figure l is a plan view ot ablank, sheared and pertorated as hereinatter described; Fig. 2 is anedge view ot the blank shown in Fig. l atter lll'l Fig. 3 is a view, inelevation, ot the letthand side ot Fig. 2 looking in the direction ofthe arrow; Fig. i is a view, in elevation, of the righthand side ot Fig.2, looking in the direction ot the arrow; 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3showing the guard partly expanded from the blank; Fig. 6 is atragmentary side elevation ot the term shown in Fig. 5, looking in thedirection ot the arrow; Fig. 7 is a perspective view ot the completelyexpanded guard.

Similar numerals ot reterence indicate similar parts throughout theseveral views. 8 indicates a blank ot suitable material, such as thinsteel, cut to give the desired ensions to the finished guard. Theillustrative finished guard as shown in Fig. 7, having sixteen radialarms 9, 9, in trout, and a corresponding number ot arms, l0, it) at theback, the blank 8 is sheared at 11,111, to term the stated numbehr ottront a and at l2, 12 to tormt e m un number ot rear arms. Blank 8 isalso sheared at 13,13, intermediate the shearings at 11, 11, and 12, i2,and overlapp the oppositely disposed ends ct these latter, as shown, toterm, in conjunction with mid latter shearings, the expanded circulartace ot the guard shown in perspective in Fig. '2". Every tourthshearing 12 extends through the end ot the blank as shown in Fig. l, inthis case torming the arms i0, 10 in groups iecinwfion of LettersPatent.

Expan "a line adjacent the or nn'w roan, n. r.

1w anrrctns.

Patented Dec. t2, tdtd,

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ot tour. Every second shearing 12 ot each group is shorter than the hutand third shearings of the group to provide space tor pertoration it andto torm attachment means 15 tor the guard. The shearings 11, 11, endadjacent term the connecting ring 16 in the trout ot the guard at thecenter as, shown in Fig. 7'.

The portions 17, 17 ot the blank between the inner ends ot Shea-rings111,111, and 12, 12, term connecting means in the expanded circular taceot the guard as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The blank 8 "as described theends are bent at an'angle to the lane of the blank al a adjacent t eends ot shearings 1d, sho in Fig. 2, and the portion to term the ring 16is-bent at an angle to the blank along outer ends ot shearings 11, 111.The rear arms 10, i0, toed by shearings l2, 12 are then twi or bent astollows (sm Fig. t) lln the torm she the a 10, 10 are in tour groupseach ot which is similar to the others. The outer lett and right handarms, indicated-by lidand it)" rctively are bent downward to the lettand right respectively to to the corresponding arms in Fig. 7, theillustration in Fig. 4 showing the arms trom the rear and theillustration in Fig. 7 shog the arms cm the trout or trom inside theguard loog out. The two inner arms ot each up, indicated by 10 and 10respectivelv are bent upward to the lett or cloc u and to the right orcounter-clockwise respectively, as shown. By this process ot maniptionthe attacent means 15 are tormed. The shea blank, partially toed asdescribed is then expanded as she in 5 and 6. The blank is pulledoutward to the right, as she in Fig. 5, or downward trom the top in 2,the

continual .5 -l. or pu 1 r. in conjunc tion with arms 9, 9 and id, l,causing the shea mg 18, it, permit the spreading at the blank to termthe expanded c are taoe ot the rd, resulting in the tormatian .ot toug-18, the portions 1'3, ll tying the will" ot these openings together atthe center it the circular tace ot the ard (see The a 9, t eaten t)radially the end ot the blank to having sheared "did from ring 16.'"tothe front I angles of the openings 18 and the arms 10, extend radiallyfrom the several attachment means to the rear angles of the openings 18.The arms 9, 9 may then be twisted to present their edges to the front.This may be done,

- for example, by twisting each arm from right to left counter-clockwisebeginning say, at thetop of Fig. 7. The point of meet ing 19 of the 16and the polnt of meeting 20 at the beginning and ending of the expandedcircular in any suitable way to the fan support. By

arranging the arms 10, 10 in four groups, sufiicient space is leftbetween the adjacent groups to permit the passing of the guard over thefan in assembling. The manner of bending arms. 10, 10 as described,permits the giving of. arms 10 and 10 a longer reachthan arms 10 and 10,While at the same time each group of arms unites at the attachment means15;

The connecting ring 16 forms a means of tying the arms 9, -9,together atthe center.

It is obvious that the processmay be practised in connection with' the;production of other articles than guards; and is not limited to theproduction of guards for electric fans only. It is'th'erefore obviousthat the blank from which the finished product is expanded may be ofother shape than rectangular, the finished product beingcorrespondinglyvaried in shape. It is therefore clear that the principleof the invention is applicable in many different waysfor the productionof many different articles and I do not restrict myself to the detailsdescribed furtherthan the scope of the appended claims demands.

I claim:

1. The process of making expanded articles consisting in providing ablank of rectangular shape, shearing the same longitudinally from apoint adjacent each end toward the middle and leaving a spacebetween theends .of the oppositely disposed shearings, shearing the samelongitudinally intermediate the first mentioned shearings and across thespace between the ends of said shearings, bending the blank along theends of the intermediate shearings and expanding the same along thelines of the shearings.

2., The process of making expanded articles consisting in providing ablank of rectangular shape, shearing the same longituuard at theconnecting ringdinally from a point adjacent each end toward the middleand leaving a space between the ends of the oppositely disposedshearings, shearing the same longitudinally intermediate the firstmentioned shearings and across the space between the ends of saidshearings, bending the blank 'along the ends of the intermediateshearings, bending the blank along the ends of one of the firstmentioned shearingsand expanding the blank along the lines of theshearings.

3. The process of making expanded articles consisting in providing ablank of rectangular shape, shearing the same longitudinally from apoint adjacent one end of said blank toward the middle, shearing saidblank longitudinally from a point adjacent the other end of the blanktoward the middle in line with said first mentioned shearings butleaving a space between the oppositely disposed ends of said shearings,certain of said latter shearings extending through the end of the blankto divide the resulting strips into groups, shearing the blanklongitudinally intermediate the other shearings and across the spacebetween the ends of said other shearings, bending the blank along theends of the intermediate shearings, bending the blank along the ends ofthe first mentioned shearings and expanding the blank along the lines ofthe shearings.

4. The process of making expanded articles consisting in providing ablank of rectangular shape, shearing the same longitudinally from apoint adjacent one end of said blank toward the middle, shearing saidblank longitudinally from a point adjacent the other end of the blanktoward the middle in line with said first mentioned shearings butleaving a space between the oppositely disposed ends of said shearings,certain of said latter shearings extending through the end of. the blankto divide the resulting strips into groups, shearing the blanklongitudinally intermediate the other shearings and across the spacebetween the ends of said other shearings, bending the blank alon theends of the intermediate shearin s,

' bendlng the blank along the ends of t e first mentioned shearings,bending the strips of each group so that they will permit subsequentexpansion, and expanding the blank along the lines of the shearings.

5. The process of making expanded articles consisting in providing ablank of rectangular shape, dividing the blank longitudinally intoaplurality of strips joined in the middle, the outer ends of one set ofstrips being integral with the blank, the other set of strips beingdivided into a plurality of groups by cutting through the end of theblank at intervals, shearing the blank intermediate said strips andacross the portion joinin said strips at the middle bending the bla Yalong the ends of sai naeaati m intermediate shearings, bending theblank nally from a oint adjacent one end of said blank towar the middle,shearing said blank longitudinally from a point adjacent the other endof the blank toward the middie in line with said first mentionedshearings but leaving a space between the 0ppositely disposed ends ofsaid shearings, certain of said latter shearings extending through theend of the blank to divide the resulting strips into groups, theintermedi-v ate shearings in each roup terminating adjacent the end ofthe lank to leave'a space on each group to serve as attachment means,shearing the blank longitudinally intermediate the two sets of firstmentioned shearings and across the space between the inner ends of saidshearings, bending the blank along the ends of the last mentionedintermediate shearings, bending the blank along the ends of the firstmentioned shearin s and expanding the blank along-the lines of theshearings.

7. The process of mak ng expanded articles consisting in roviding ablank of rectangular shape, ividing the blank longitudinalclly into aplurality of strips joined in the mi dle, the outer ends of one set ofstrips being integral with the blank, the

other set of strips being divided into a plurality of roups by cuttingthrough the end of the b ank at intervals, shearing the blankintermediate said strips and across theportion joining said strips atthe middle, bending the blank along theends of said intermediateshearings, bending the blank alon the ends of the strips integral withthe lank, bending and twisting the strips of each group of strips sothat they w1ll permit the subsequent expansion and will present theiredges frontwise, expanding the blank along the lines of the shearingsand twisting the strips having their ends integral with the blank sothat they will present their edges frontwise.

'8. The process of makin fan guards and the like consisting in providinga blank of rectangular shape, dividing the blank longitudinally into aplurality of strips joined in the middle, the outer ends of one set ofstrips being integral with the blank so as to form a rim from which whenexpanded the strips connected therewith will radiate to form the frontface of the guard, the

other set of strips being divided into a plurality of groups by cuttingthrough the end of the blank at intervals so as to leave attachmentmeans for each group from which the strips of the group when expanded,Will radiate to form the rear face of the guard, shearing the blankintermediate said strips and across the portion joining said strips inthe middle so that when expanded the strips formed by said shearingswill form, in conjunction w1th sald first mentioned strips, the circularside face of the guard, bending the blank along the ends of theintermediate shearings, bending the blank along the ends of the stripsmtegral with the blank to form said run, bending the strips of each ofsa d groups of strips so that they will perm1t subsequent expansion.

In testimony whereof I have signedthis specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

' THOMAS W. VARLEY.

Witnesses:

K. G. LE Aim, S. M. BAEDER.

